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2022 Legislative priorities

The second Regular Session of Colorado’s 73rd General Assembly kicked off on January 12, 2022, scheduled to run through May 11. Colorado Center on Law and Policy will periodically update this page to reflect our priorities throughout the session.

 

CCLP’s priority bills for 2022

SB22-099: Sealing Criminal Records (“Clean Slate” bill)

Bill sponsors: Senators Hisey & Rodriguez, Representative Tipper

Many types of non-violent criminal records are eligible for sealing under Colorado law, yet the process leaves people behind. For many households, the stigma of a record needlessly creates ongoing obstacles to long-term employment, education, affordable housing, and family well-being. While records are eligible to be sealed, the current process imposes many barriers, including filing court petitions, paying fees, attending hearings, and securing legal representation. This legislation will:

  1. Automatically Seal Records That Are Currently Eligible
  2. Protect Coloradans’ Information from Misuse by Third-Party Vendors
  3. Clarify and Streamline Colorado’s Record Sealing Provisions

CCLP SUPPORTS SB22-099. Read more on the Clean Slate Coaltion’s Fact Sheet.

HB22-1224: Ending unfair prosecution of public benefit recipients

Bill sponsors: Reps Kerry Tipper & Matt Soper, Sen. Julie Gonzales

Public benefits provide basic necessities like health care and food to CO families facing poverty. Ensuring that Coloradans can access these services when they need them not only promotes individual wellbeing but also supports strong local economies and thriving communities. But people can be deterred from seeking support when obtaining benefits risks entanglement with the crim-inal legal system. This can happen because inaccurate information on an application for benefits can lead to prosecution under Colorado’s criminal theft statute. This bill will:

  1. Ensure nobody is held criminally liable for benefits for which they are eligible
  2. Require proof that an applicant misrepresented information for the purpose of unlawfully gaining services
  3. Ensure that criminal liability does not increase due to bureaucratic delays.

CCLP SUPPORTS HB22-1224. Read more on CCLP’s Fact Sheet (pdf).

HB22-1259: Modifications To Colorado Works Program (TANF reform)

Bill sponsors: Representatives Duran & Jodeh, Senator Moreno

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), known here as Colorado Works, provides financial support to families far below the federal poverty level. A parent with two children must make less than $421 a month to qualify for TANF basic cash assistance. Even before the pandemic, families enrolled in TANF were facing the greatest barriers to financial security and well-being. For a family of three, living in extreme poverty means getting by on only $10 per person per day. To lift families out of extreme poverty, this legislation will:

  • Increase TANF basic cash assistance and ensure that it keeps up with the rising cost of living
  • Make improvements to how TANF serves families
  • Reduce the “cliff effect” and create a smoother off-ramp to economic security.
  • Improve engagement and outreach with families

CCLP SUPPORTS HB22-1259, improving TANF for Colorado families. Read more on the TANF Coalition’s latest Fact Sheet (updated April 12.)

HB22-1289 Health Benefits For Colorado Children And Pregnant Persons (Expanding Healthcare Coverage)

Every family deserves a healthy start. All people need access to health insurance, regardless of where they work, how much money they make, their age, medical conditions, marital status, family composition, or immigration status. Health care access is especially critical to health and wellbeing during childhood and pregnancy.

Insurance access improves physical and mental health, and lowers infant, child, and adult mortality rates. Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) are critical for the health access of pregnant people, new parents, and children.

CCLP SUPPORTS HB22-1289. Read more on the Cover All Coloradans fact sheet (PDF, available in English and Spanish)

Continue and update CO’s Supportive Services Program

Bill sponsors: Representative Exum & Senator Fields

The Employment Support and Job Retention Services Program (or Supportive Services Program) was developed through HB19-1107 as a three-year pilot program within the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment (CDLE). The program created an emergency supportive services fund for community-based organizations (CBOs) and public agencies (PAs) to draw from to serve their participants with barriers to obtaining and maintaining employment. Legislation to be proposed:

  • Continue the Supportive Services Program
  • Reimburse member organizations within 7 business days
  • Prioritize community engagement to rural and underserved communities through outreach to non-traditional services organizations

CCLP SUPPORTS improving and making permanent the Supportive Services Program. Read more on Skills2Compete-Colorado Coalition’s Fact Sheet

Mobile Home Park Resident Protections

Bill sponsors: Representative Boesenecker and Senator Ginal

Before and throughout the pandemic, corporations and private, out-of-state investment funds have purchased mobile home parks, touting them as a profitable investment. At least 20 mobile home parks have been sold without fully following Colorado’s Opportunity to Purchase law. Each time a new operator takes over, home
owners face monthly lot rent increases of as much as 80%. Fixed and low income families are eventually forced out, losing their property interest in their home, causing many families to face displacement or homelessness.

Out-of-state investment funds and corporations who invest in mobile home parks in multiple states have continued to purchase and operate parks in states with regulations similar to what is being proposed in this bill. Mobile Home Parks still remain an attractive investment, even when basic resident protections are put into place. The proposed bill will:

  • Increase stability for residents
  • Protect affordability of housing
  • Create greater accountability for park owners

CCLP SUPPORTS passing basic mobile home park resident protections in Colorado. Read more on the coalition fact sheet (PDF, also available in Spanish)

2022 State Legislation List

Throughout the legislative session, CCLP compiles a list of bills concerning economic opportunity and poverty reduction. This list includes bill sponsors, assigned committees, and the organizations that have expressed their support for or opposition to each bill.

Updated June 13 – final version

Download the PDF
CCLP Legislative Preview 2022, January 6, 12 - 1:30 p.m. virtual event

Legislative Preview 2022

On January 6, CCLP hosted its 2022 Legislative Preview virtual event. Learn more about this year’s agenda, including Clean Slate, as well as updates in our 4 focus areas.

Watch the video

HEALTH:
HEALTH FIRST COLORADO (MEDICAID)

To maintain health and well-being, people of all ages need access to quality health care that improves outcomes and reduces costs for the community. Health First Colorado, the state's Medicaid program, is public health insurance for low-income Coloradans who qualify. The program is funded jointly by a federal-state partnership and is administered by the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy & Financing.

Benefits of the program include behavioral health, dental services, emergency care, family planning services, hospitalization, laboratory services, maternity care, newborn care, outpatient care, prescription drugs, preventive and wellness services, primary care and rehabilitative services.

In tandem with the Affordable Care Act, Colorado expanded Medicaid eligibility in 2013 - providing hundreds of thousands of adults with incomes less than 133% FPL with health insurance for the first time increasing the health and economic well-being of these Coloradans. Most of the money for newly eligible Medicaid clients has been covered by the federal government, which will gradually decrease its contribution to 90% by 2020.

Other populations eligible for Medicaid include children, who qualify with income up to 142% FPL, pregnant women with household income under 195% FPL, and adults with dependent children with household income under 68% FPL.

Some analyses indicate that Colorado's investment in Medicaid will pay off in the long run by reducing spending on programs for the uninsured.

FOOD SECURITY:
SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (SNAP)

Hunger, though often invisible, affects everyone. It impacts people's physical, mental and emotional health and can be a culprit of obesity, depression, acute and chronic illnesses and other preventable medical conditions. Hunger also hinders education and productivity, not only stunting a child's overall well-being and academic achievement, but consuming an adult's ability to be a focused, industrious member of society. Even those who have never worried about having enough food experience the ripple effects of hunger, which seeps into our communities and erodes our state's economy.

Community resources like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as Food Stamps, exist to ensure that families and individuals can purchase groceries, with the average benefit being about $1.40 per meal, per person.

Funding for SNAP comes from the USDA, but the administrative costs are split between local, state, and federal governments. Yet, the lack of investment in a strong, effective SNAP program impedes Colorado's progress in becoming the healthiest state in the nation and providing a better, brighter future for all. Indeed, Colorado ranks 44th in the nation for access to SNAP and lost out on more than $261 million in grocery sales due to a large access gap in SNAP enrollment.

See the Food Assistance (SNAP) Benefit Calculator to get an estimate of your eligibility for food benefits.

FOOD SECURITY:
SPECIAL SUPPLEMENTAL NUTRITION PROGRAM FOR WOMEN, INFANTS AND CHILDREN (WIC)

Every child deserves the nutritional resources needed to get a healthy start on life both inside and outside the mother's womb. In particular, good nutrition and health care is critical for establishing a strong foundation that could affect a child's future physical and mental health, academic achievement and economic productivity. Likewise, the inability to access good nutrition and health care endangers the very integrity of that foundation.

The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) provides federal grants to states for supplemental foods, health care referrals, and nutrition information for low-income pregnant, breastfeeding and non-breastfeeding postpartum women and to infants and children up to age five who are found to be at nutritional risk.

Research has shown that WIC has played an important role in improving birth outcomes and containing health care costs, resulting in longer pregnancies, fewer infant deaths, a greater likelihood of receiving prenatal care, improved infant-feeding practices, and immunization rates

Financial Security:
Colorado Works

In building a foundation for self-sufficiency, some Colorado families need some extra tools to ensure they can weather challenging financial circumstances and obtain basic resources to help them and their communities reach their potential.

Colorado Works is Colorado's Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program and provides public assistance to families in need. The Colorado Works program is designed to assist participants in becoming self-sufficient by strengthening the economic and social stability of families. The program provides monthly cash assistance and support services to eligible Colorado families.

The program is primarily funded by a federal block grant to the state. Counties also contribute about 20% of the cost.

EARLY LEARNING:
COLORADO CHILD CARE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (CCCAP)

Child care is a must for working families. Along with ensuring that parents can work or obtain job skills training to improve their families' economic security, studies show that quality child care improves children's academic performance, career development and health outcomes.

Yet despite these proven benefits, low-income families often struggle with the cost of child care. Colorado ranks among the top 10 most expensive states in the country for center-based child care. For families with an infant, full-time enrollment at a child care center cost an average of $15,140 a year-or about three-quarters of the total income of a family of three living at the Federal Poverty Level (FPL).

The Colorado Child Care Assistance Program (CCCAP) provides child care assistance to parents who are working, searching for employment or participating in training, and parents who are enrolled in the Colorado Works Program and need child care services to support their efforts toward self-sufficiency. Most of the money for CCCAP comes from the federal Child Care and Development Fund. Each county can set their own income eligibility limit as long as it is at or above 165% of the federal poverty level and does not exceed 85% of area median income.

Unfortunately, while the need is growing, only an estimated one-quarter of all eligible children in the state are served by CCCAP. Low reimbursement rates have also resulted in fewer providers willing to accept CCCAP subsidies.